OK, this is your official notification that OTTI 11 will go live on Wednesday at 6 pm Eastern USA time. The Official OTTI 11 Topic will be posted at least 3 hours prior at which time you can view all the particulars. Then at 6 pm you will be able to submit your request to participate. As always, "seating" is limited.

For now I will share this much. There will be 5 different teas from 5 different vendors. Each of the 5 samples will consist of 10 grams, so 50 grams total.

As always there will be a nominal fee, this helps make the OTTI available for those who are earnestly interested versus the free sample junkies who will always ask for free tea, then stick it in a kitchen drawer for posterity.

I will post the official OTTI 12 topic on Thursday at 6 pm Eastern USA time.

I will try to post it 3 hours earlier for previewing. The topic will then go live at 6 pm sharp at which time you can reserve your spot by emailing me (info will be in the official post).

This round will feature the entire new line-up of new teas from one vendor.

This was a bit of an opportunistic and serendipitous undertaking as this vendor had long ago informed me that they would be adding this particular line to their offerings ... then suddenly out of the blue they posted them on their site, finally.

OTTI 13 will go live in 3 days! That will be Wednesday May 23, 2012 at 6:00 PM Eastern USA time.

This OTTI round will feature 6 different Shincha all from O-Cha. The first 5 are the ones already posted on the O-Cha site. The 6th ... well it is a great one, but you will have to wait to hear what it is since O-Cha has not yet announced its release date.

If you already ordered some of these, this is still an excellent opportunity to sample thye rest ... and I will endeavor to work it out with you so you do not receive teas you already have!

OTTI 15 will feature a six-pack of Gaoshan, Taiwan oolong, submitted for your sampling, tasting, approval. The six selected will exemplify the diversity of Taiwan oolong-s.

The vendor, MountainTea.com is a new one for me and I suspect for virtually everyone here. They are a multi generation family of growers/sellers who grow and then sell direct. The formula helps them to offer their products at very reasonable prices.

I met several members of the family at the World Tea Expo in June. They are excited to participate in this OTTI round and even conducted a special teasting to determine what to offer our members!

OTTI 16 will go live on Wednesday at 6 PM Eastern USA time. The official topic will be posted for member previewing 3 hours prior, 3 PM.

This will be a DOVe (Dedicated to One Vendor) OTTI round and was requested by several members. This round will feature a diverse range of offerings from http://www.thes-du-japon.com/including 3 Sencha, 1 micro-fermented, and one Kamairicha ... 5 teas total. Each participant will receive 10 grams of each selection, 50 grams total.

This is the official 3 day notification of Shin-OTTI-Cha which will go live on Friday at 6 pm Eastern USA time with a 3 hour prior preview of the official topic which will include all the particulars of this round.

However, nice guy that I am, look for more information before then.

If you are thinking of sampling Shincha, you will not want to miss this! This will be the biggest and best Shincha round to date. This will include some new friends and some old friends! This is going to be ... awesome ...